There’s an unprecedented 12 candidates seeking 3 positions on the Tucson Unifed School District (TUSD) Governing Board in 2012. And 54 people applied for a vacancy on the board last year. Why such popularity for a volunteer four year term on the school board of the largest school district in Tucson? With the recent elimination of the Mexican American Studies program at TUSD, more interest has been directed to these positions on the board, whose mission is to set policy for the school district, and to advise the appointed Superintendent.

Here’s a recap of who’s run for the five board seats in the last 10 years:

2002 (2 seats)
Bruce Burke (attorney) – winner
Adelita Grijalva- winner
Rosalie Lopez (attorney), incumbent
Cynthia Schiesel

2004 (3 seats)
Judy Burns – incumbent, winner
Marilyn Freed
Joel Ireland (attorney), incumbent, winner
Devin Mauney
Elena Parra
Pam Perry
Alex Rodriguez, winner
Armand Salese (attorney)

2006 (2 seats)
Bruce Burke, incumbent, winner
Miguel Cuevas
Adelita Grijalva, incumbent, winner

2008 (3 seats)
Judy Burns, incumbent, winner
Miguel Cuevas, winner
Mark Stegeman, winner

2010 (2 seats)
Adelita Grijalva, incumbent, winner
Michael Hicks, winner
Miguel Ortega
Armand Salese

54 people applied for a vacancy (after 3 term board member Judy Burns’ death in October, 2011) including former 2 term board member Bruce Burke, former candidates Marilyn Freed, Miguel Ortega, & Armand Salese. For the complete list go to the Tucsonsentinel.com article. Political newcomer Dr. Alex Sugiyama was appointed to that seat in December, 2011.

2012 (3 seats)
Twelve candidates running including incumbents Cuevas, Dr. Stegeman and Dr. Sugiyama. Click here for previous post about the official list.

The board member to go on successfully to higher office has been Raul Grijalva (served on TUSD board 1975 to 1986), then went on to become the District 5 Pima County Supervisor (1989 to 2002), and CD 7 Congressman, where he has now served 10 years. His oldest daughter Adelita was first elected to TUSD board in 2002, 10 years ago, and is up for re-election in 2014.

See full board history (1884 to present) at:
http://www.tusd1.org/contents/distinfo/Documents/boardmembers.pdf

1 term board member Rosalie Lopez (1999-2002) ran unsuccessfully against Raul for Supervisor in 2000 as a Republican, then was upset in the 2002 board election by Bruce Burke & Raul’s daughter Adelita.

Former 3 term board member attorney Eva Bacal (1979-1990) ran unsuccessfully for CD 8 House in 2004 as a Democrat and lost to Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe. Incidentally Eva’s daughter attorney Susan Bacal serves as a Justice of the Peace for Pima County Consolidated Justice Court, Precinct 8.

Former 2 term board member Dr. Brenda Even (1991-1998) ran unsuccessfully for Pima County Board of Supervisors District 4 in the Republican primary of 1998 and lost to incumbent Ray Carroll, who had been appointed to replace her late husband Supervisor John Even. She was then appointed to the PCC Board of Governors in 2001 and was elected twice, is serving till Dec. 2014.

Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords resigned today from her job representing Congressional District 8 in the State of Arizona. She cast her last vote this morning in the U.S.House on a bipartisan bill she introduced with Congressman Jeff Flake to impose tougher penalties on drug smugglers, and last night she listened to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

She had served n the U.S. Congress since January 2007, was re-elected twice. As most of you know by now she was shot in Tucson once in the head at close range by mass shooter Jared Lee Loughner on January 8, 2011, over a year ago. She has been recovering in Houston, Texas where her astronaut husband Capt.(ret.) Mark Kelly lives, sharing custody of his two daughters from his previous marriage.

She faced three tough campaigns for her CD 8 race in the general elections: against former LD 30 House Rep. Randy Graf in 2006, former LD 30 State Senate President Tim Bee in 2008, and newcomer Jesse Kelly in 2010. And she also had a contentious Democratic primary race in 2006 against former TV newscaster Patty Weiss, and four others (William Johnson, Jeff Latas, Alex Rodriguez, Francine Shacter). She ran unopposed in the Democratic CD 8 primaries of 2008 and 2010.

Her closest race margin was with Kelly in November, 2010 (winning by 4,156 votes). Read my previous blog about that race “How did Giffords win?” (click here).

Gabby served one and a half terms in the Arizona State Senate (2003 to 2005), and also one term in the State House (2001 – 2003), representing mid-town Tucson in LD 28, prior to Congress. I knew her then as well, and worked as a volunteer on her Congressional campaigns for 2006 and 2008. So I knew Gabby professionally through the Pima County Democratic Party and as a campaign volunteer, and later as I covered her campaign for the TucsonCitizen.com in 2010. And of course I knew the late Gabe Zimmerman, who worked as a field organizer on her first 2006 campaign and later as the constituent outreach director in her Tucson District Office. (30 year old Zimmerman was killed in the Tucson Tragedy mass shooting on 1/8/11).

There is a bumper sticker “Gabrielle Giffords continues to inspire” which was placed at the Tucson three impromptu memorials that sprang up after the shooting. It was a testament of her courage and inspirational fight back to health, which is still ongoing (and the reason for her resignation). Because the Glock 9mm bullet entered the left side of her brain, Gabby’s right leg, right arm/hand, and speech were affected by the injury, and she now is working in rehab with her aphasia –speech & language difficulties — and reduced physical mobility. Prior to this shooting, Gabby was an avid hiker, and rode horses, a bicycle, and a motorcycle.

But I know what a healthy, friendly, strong-willed individual she was as a politician and community activist, and I know she will work tirelessly now at age 41 to recover fully from her injury. She took a bullet in the line of duty as a U.S. Congresswoman and should be praised for her courage and resiliency, and hard work for over 10 years as a state & federal legislator.

Good luck Gabby and our prayers are with you as you recuperate, and find a new mission in life.